Sunday, February 08, 2015

In certain circles today, the word work is a 4 letter word. However, if we look at Chazal we see that Chazal actually believed the opposite, that in fact Chazal thought work was very important and valuable.

In last weeks Parsha (יתרו), we have the ten commandments with one of them being the commandment to observe Shabbos. However, before commanding us to keep Shabbos the Torah states "ששת ימים תעבוד ועשית כל מלאכתיך". On this pasuk there are many derashos of Chazal on the positive value of work. The תורה שלימה at the end of יתרו has 2 essays on this point and all of the sources below are taken from there.

Work as a Mitzva

There are a number of sources in Chazal that state that not only is work a positive value, but it is a mitzvah.

Six days you should work, Rebbi says this is another gezera that just like the Jewish people were commanded as a positive commandment to keep Shabbos, so too they were commanded to work [on the other 6 days].

2. Source: ובאבות דר״נ נו״ב פכ״א

רבי אליעזר אומר
גדולה היא מלאכה שכשם שנצטוו ישראל על
השבת כך נצטוו על המלאכה שנאמר ששת ימים
תעבוד ועשית כל מלאכתךRabbi Eliezer said work is a very good thing because just like the Jewish people were commanded to keep Shabbos, so too they were commanded to work as the pasuk says 6 days you should work R' Kasher explains the source for saying that work is a mitzvah as follows:

It seems that the reason behind these derashos is that the Torah mentions 8 times when discussing the mitzvah of Shabbos doing work on the other six days. We have to understand what is the Torah telling us? The main point the Torah is coming to tell us is to warn us to keep Shabbos and therefore why does the Torah emphasise every time the idea of doing work on the other 6 days. From this Rebbi and R' Eliezer learned that the Torah is commanding us to work on these 6 days and it is not optional, rather if a person sits and does nothing he is not fulfilling the mitzvah of working 6 days.

R' Elazar Ben Azarya said work is so good that the divine presense did dwell with the Jewish people until they did work as the pasuk says make me a mikdash and I will dwell amongst you.2. רבי אליעזר אומר גדולה היא מלאכה שאפילו אדם הראשון לא טעם כלום אלא עד
שעשה מלאכה שנאמד ויניחהו בגן עדן לעבדה
ולשמרה Rabbi Eliezer said work is good because even Adam could not eat anything until he did work as the pasuk says he was put into Gan Eden to work and protect3. רבי אומד גדולה היא מלאכה שכל מי שאינו עוסק במלאכה בני אדם משיחין בו, מניין איש
פלוני אוכל, מניין הוא שותה Rebbi said work is good because anyone who doesn't work people talk about him, from where does he eat, from where does he drink?4. ועוד היה רבי אומד גדולה היא מלאכה שכל מי שהוא עוסק במלאכה אין ידו חסרה פרוטה
לעולם.Rebbi also said work is good, someone who works is never lacking for money. 5. ועוד אמד רבי יוסי גדולה היא מלאכה שכל
מי שאינו עוסק במלאכה הדי זה מתחייב בנפשו

R' Yosi also said, work is good because someone who doesn't work will end up giving up their life.6. רבי מאיד אומר גמלה היא מלאכה שכל מי שאינו עושה מלאכה בחול סופו לעשותה בשבת R' Meir said work is good because anyone who doesn't work during the week will end up working on Shabbos. 7. חביבה היא המלאכה, שהרי כל בריות שברא
הקב״ה בעולמו, לא מסר להן מלאכה אלא לבני
אדם בלבד. וכן היה ר׳ מאיר אומר

ראית מימיך ארי אכר, צבי חייט, שועל כורם, או אחד מן
החיות עושה מלאכה. [הרי אינן עושין מלאכה],
והרי הן מתפרנסין בלא מלאכה- ובני אדם אין מתפרנסים אלא מן המלאכה לא מפני שהם קלים, אלא שהמלאכה חביבה- Work is valuable because out of all of the creature that Hashem created he only gave work to man. And R' Meir used to say this as well, did you ever say a lion farmer, a deer tailor, a fox vintner or any animal every doing work? [We know they don't do work] they get their food without working while people only get their food from work, not because it is easy but because work is valuable.

The early righteous men would try to work to support themselves and they were not afraid of difficult/embarrassing work even though they were the heads of the assembly, Rosh yeshivas and Gedolei Hador ... (descriptions of the various Tannaim and their work)....And anyone who doesn't work to support himself is a sinner and causes other people to sin. How is he a sinner? Since he doesn't work to support himself he come to be poor and then steal from people. How does he cause others to sin, because he cause people to talk about him, he doesn't work from where does he eat, from where does he drink?

We see from these many statements of Chazal that work is not simply a curse but it is a valuable thing that raises up a person to new heights.R' Kasher concludes the essay with the following:

הכתוב ,ששת ימים תעבוד ועשית כל
מלאכתך״ שבעשרת הדברות מיחד ותופס מקום כבוד נעלה ורם בתולדות האנושות עד נצח. הערך
המוסרי של העבודה קשור קשר אמיץ במנוחת
השבת, כשם שהמוסריות של שלות השבת צומחת
ויוצאת מעבודת השבוע. ... חג המנוחה חוזר ונרכש ומתאשר תמידמחדש על ידי עבודת ימי החול״.The pasuk six days you should toil and do your work that is in the ten commandments, takes a proud and high place in the annals of man. The moral value of work is tied tightly to the rest of shabbos, the morality of of the peaceful shabbos is derived from the work of the week. ...The holiday of rest is bought every week with the work of the week.

This is not 1 מאמר חז"ל that can be dismissed, this is clearly something that Chazal felt strongly about and emphasised. There are many many more statements in Chazal praising work that I did not quote here. The fact that today in certain circles this is completely ignored is very sad.